KAMPALA, Uganda — The Uganda Law Society (ULS) has issued a scathing rebuke of the Uganda Police Force (UPF) following the controversial deployment of canine units to disperse a National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential campaign rally in Kawempe on November 24, 2025.
In a strongly worded statement, the legal body expressed “deep concern” over video footage and reports surfacing from the event, which depicted security forces utilizing police dogs alongside tear gas to violently disperse crowds and forcefully arrest civilians.
A breach of rights and historical parallels
The ULS characterized the security response as a direct attack on democratic freedoms.
“ULS condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the deployment of police dogs at political campaigns. Such actions constitute a grave breach of the citizen’s right to peaceful assembly,” the statement read.
The society went further, drawing chilling parallels between the police’s current tactics and those employed by historical oppressive regimes.
The statement referenced the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and Apartheid-era South Africa, where state forces famously unleashed dogs to suppress peaceful demonstrators and Black populations.
“Drawing from this history, the deployment of police dogs in political rallies today reflects a continuity with colonial and apartheid-era practices in which animals were weaponized to instill fear and enforce authoritarian control,” the ULS noted.
Misuse of specialized units
The lawyers’ body argued that the police Canine Unit is technically trained for specific tasks such as crime-scene investigation, explosives and narcotics detection, and search-and-rescue operations, not for managing political crowds.
“Unleashing dogs at a campaign rally is a tool of threat, fear, and force, and this must not be tolerated,” the statement added.
Arbitrary arrests of bystanders
Beyond the use of animals, the ULS raised alarm over the indiscriminate nature of the police operation.
The society highlighted that the crackdown ensnared ordinary citizens who were not part of the political event.
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“Several innocent people, some merely using public roads around Kawempe and not participating in the campaign, were arrested,” the ULS pointed out, warning that such actions erode public trust in law enforcement and violate constitutional rights to liberty.
Demands for immediate action
The statement, signed by ULS Vice President Asiimwe Anthoriy, issued three specific demands to the state:
- An immediate, unconditional halt to the use of police dogs at political rallies.
- The release of all innocent civilians arrested arbitrarily during the Kawempe unrest.
- Full compliance with constitutional policing standards that respect human dignity.
The ULS concluded by questioning the government’s commitment to democratic principles in light of these tactics.
“If the state permits its law-enforcement agencies to unleash living creatures as instruments of political coercion, and to arrest innocent bystanders, what does it say about the rule of law in our country? Such intimidation tactics are unacceptable in a democratic state.”
